Universal Power and Beauty at Art Corner

Faces painted by Mohamed El-Moslemany emanate an unmistakable flair; their eyes pull you in, daring you to break their silent stories. Like starlets in a silent film the women in the portraits each have a charming and mystical character.

El-Moslemany’s paintbrush crafts compelling portraits of women. Adorned with vibrant colour, the women on the Art Corner Gallery’s white walls are a force to be reckoned with, or so they appear to be. It’s all about her. Graceful and eternally quiet, you yearn to break into that world, of which El-Moslemany’s women are queens.

In oil paints and acrylics, and at times different media such as oil pastels and gold paper, the artist paints different female faces of Egypt. At times, the women on the walls appear to be visiting from Ancient Egypt, and at times they look like the typical modern woman you see walking past you on the street. El-Moslemany says our multi-layered Egyptian heritage influences his faces.

The artist believes faces are maps that help you figure out a person’s unspoken emotions. Facial expressions are keys, deciphering unique individual codes that are hard to otherwise untangle, he says. If faces were identical, the world would be unbearably bland, the El-Moslemany believes.

Forceful female energy inspires the artist. But all we see is perhaps a representation of caged energy, trapped in the woman’s static expressions.

In a striking technique that artfully creates shadows under the women’s eyes and gently illuminates their cheeks, El-Moslemany is evidently captivated by the female visage.

“In Ancient Egyptian civilization, most gods and influential figures were women. And even today, the woman is the backbone of every household,” he explains.

The artist notes that historically the best paintings have been of women. And instantly, Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa jumps to mind. Like the legendary portrait, El-Moslemany’s women stare back at you with an unbreakable glare, their lips sometimes curled ever so slightly, confusing you.

Away from ancient gods and intriguing paintings, El-Moslemany believes that women were naturally created more beautiful than men. But beauty is not all they have.

“I believe women are very strong,” the artist says. El-Moslemany refutes the popular notion that women are weak; he admires her strength, and her ability to withstand pain that would stop a man’s heart.

The artist enlarges his women’s features to depict her power and beauty. And applies unusual colours to personify each one of them.

One of his portraits parades a turquoise blue visage. For a second it is as if you are looking at her face through the sea. “The portrait reflects the natural force and beauty of women,” he says.

But his choice of colour is frequently subconscious. Creating his characters, the process is two-fold. He starts by sketching a smaller composition; drawing from faces he saw walking down the streets, with his mother’s face engraved in his mind throughout. Then, he expands the portrait, enlarging her features to mirror power. He then dresses her up in colours that suit her character, and match his mood. And soon enough, his paintbrush creates feminine mystique. 

The exhibition at the Art Corner in Zamalek shows women that seem to have travelled to the gallery from different eras. You spot an ancient Egyptian figure beside a modern veiled woman (a representation that rarely makes its way into modern art.) El-Moslemany did not use models to create his unnamed collection. The features he drew from memory, as he so often does. And as for the accessories, he browsed through the Internet for photos that show veiled women with scarves creatively wrapping their heads.

“Obsessed as I am with the female face, I was interested to see how the scarf accommodates it,” he says.

His women carry his mother’s slightly-shut eyes. “Many people look at my artwork and remark that I paint myself, or my mother or my daughter,” he says.

El-Moslemany’s unnamed exhibition was initially called “Women of the East”. But after much deliberation, the artist thought, “Why limit it to the East?” He decided that this exhibition would be about universal female power and beauty in general, and that origins need not be included in the equation.

The exhibition runs until November 16 at the Art Corner Gallery in Zamalek

12 Sayed El-Bakri St. Zamalek, Cairo